


Damsel in Distress

by Finney13



Category: The Witcher (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Violence, F/M, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Physical Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 23:53:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29534346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Finney13/pseuds/Finney13
Summary: She get's ambushed by thieves on a forrest road. Geralt of Rivia, resting nearby, hears the commotion and comes riding in to save the day.
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia & Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 5





	Damsel in Distress

The road to Craydon was long and muddy. They had been traveling for hours and there was still many left until they reached the town. It had been raining the whole day and dark clouds hung low promising no end to it anytime soon.

The creeking of the wheels, rain hitting the roof and lulling motion of the carriage made Ann feel sleepy and her head kept nodding. Finally she gave up and laid on her side on the seat her feet on the floor even though it wasn't the most comfortable position to rest.

She didn't know how long she had slept when she woke up to men yelling loudly around the carriage. The horses stopped abruptly and she almost fell to the floor.

"Get down!" a gruff voice yelled to the coachman who repeatedly stated that he wasn't going to make any problems while climbing down.

Ann stayed laying down grabbing the seat tightly. When she heard the gurgling sound of someome trying to speak she covered her mouth with her hand to keep herself from screaming. The men had slitted the throat of the coachman.

She realised she was all alone against the robberers.

The carriage rocked when some of the men climbed on the roof to dig through the luggage. "I found gold!" one of them yelled after rummaging through some of the trunks and throwing clothes and other items down to the ground.

Another man opened the carriage door. Upon seeing Ann huddled on the seat he smiled with grimy teeth: "Well, what do we have here? Boys, I think we found a treasure today." The other three men, equally ragged and with as horrid smiles as the first one, gathered by the door. "Oo, flesh in such a pretty package" one of the men said. "I was happy with the gold but this..." he trailed off devouring her with his eyes.

Ann knew she had no way of getting out of the situation by herself. She maybe was a noblewoman but she knew that stating who she was to these thieves was only going to make the situation worse. She could consider herself lucky if these men only killed her. But of course she knew they wouldn't let her off so easily. Men like these didn't do that, they had no honor. They would make sure you wouldn't forget them or what they did to you. Ever.

The man climbed in to the coach. Ann tried to kick and get away from him but he was determined. He grabbed her and lifted her up to sit on the seat. All Ann's tries to fight him just made him grab her harder. He growled with his stinking breath to Ann's face:"Now, if you behave yourself and be a nice little girl maybe we won't kill you after we have had some fun with you. If you don't, we will make sure that your end won't be easy or swift. Do you understand?"

Ann felt hot tears falling on her cheeks. She trembled but looked at the man defiently. "You piece of shit" she screamed at him and spat on his face. She knew it wouldn't do any good but she had nothing to lose. Not anymore.

He grabbed her throat and choked her. "I'm going to show you how to behave, bitch" he growled and fumbled his pants with his other hand. Ann was gasping for air desperately and tried to get him to release his hand from her throat without avail.

Suddenly fast galloping sounded from afar and the other three men started yelling. The man on top of Ann turned to look out from the window what the fuss was about when a dagger hit his forhead. His eyes grew large, he released Ann's throat and fell dead on the floor. Ann gasped for air to fill her lungs and then, not quite believing her luck, creeped up to look out from the window.

She saw two of the robberers hurriedly fleeing from something to different directions. A hooded man on a black horse rode past the carriage and cut the neck of one of the running men with a long sword. Then he turned his horse around and when he caught up with the second man he shoved the sword into his back. When he didn't see anyone else trying to flee he unmounted his horse, removed his hood and took a look around to ensure he had finished all of the robberers.

Then he raised his eyes to the coach. "Anyone there?" he asked.

"Yes" Ann tried to say with a raspy squeaky voice. Her throat was hurting and she was in shock but she tried to sit straighter. She coughed and tried to speak again, this time louder: "Yes, I'm here. There's...there's one more body over here" she managed to croak.

The man walked to the coach and peeked inside. "Well that's no good" he stated upon seeing the dead man laying on the floor without pants. He took the man by his ankles and pulled the body out of the coach. Then he came to the door again and looked at Ann asking: "Are you alright?"

Ann staired at him speechless - partly at awe, but mostly still in shock. He was tall and broad-shouldered and his long hair was all white even though he wasn't really that old. But the most peculiar thing was that his eyes were the color of deep amber. ”Definitely handsome” she thought and wondered immediately how that thought was the one in her mind after what had just happened.

"Are you alright?" he asked again, this time with slightly worried tone. "Sorry, oh, yes, yes, sorry, I'm...I think... I think I'm alright... yes." Ann finally managed to say. "You don't really appear like that though" he replied.

Ann looked down at her and saw the muddy stained fabric of her dress torn where her attacker had stomped over it and grabbed her. Her hair was hanging on her face and from the feel of her neck it must've been already showing some bruising. It was true, she wasn't alright. With this realisation Ann couldn't hold back tears anymore and started sobbing.

"It's alright now, I'm here. You're alright" he tried to calm her. "Here, let me help you down from there" the man said and reached his hand to Ann. She took it and got up but her legs didn't carry and she slipped on the door losing her balance. He grabbed her into his arms and for a small moment her face brushed against his warm cheek before he let her down.

Ann looked around and took in the grim reality. The carriage stood alone in the middle of the road with all her things spread around it. The robberers had even let the horses loose. But in truth even though she was cold and damp, her whole body shivered and her throat ached she was just glad that she was alive. "Thank you," she managed to say, still barely able to whisper "thank you for saving me". "When I heard the yells I knew there was something wrong and I had to come and see what it was about. It was the honorable thing to do" he replied without any arrogance in his voice. Ann hadn't ever felt so grateful.

"Your carriage is not going anywhere anytime soon" he stated. "We need to get you somewhere safe" he continued and went to get his horse.

"I'm Ann of..." she started to introduce herself when he came back with his horse but he interrupted her. "I know who you are milady." He bowed his head: "Geralt of Rivia, at your service". "You're that witcher" Ann said recognising the man from the stories she'd heard from her maids. He took his cloak off and wrapped ito over her shoulderss. "Yes I am and I can tell you all about it" he replied, "but first we really need to get you out of here."

Suddenly a loud yell came behind them. Geralt turned around and drew his sword from its sheath so fast that Ann didn't even realise what happened until she heard the thud of a body falling on the ground dead.

"I'm sorry I missed that one earlier" he said sheepishly as he sheated his sword. He turned to Ann who felt like a wet dog, cold and miserable, and looked at her with real concern: "I know it isn't very ladylike to join a stranger when you've just met him, but I have a camp close by. I have medicine for your throat there and you can clean up and rest there for tonight. I assume you were traveling to Craydon?" Ann nodded. He continued: "I can take you there in the morning. And you have my witcher's word no harm will come to you while you're with me."

Ann was still trembling and definitely wanted to clean up after what she'd gone through. "I will not object to any of that" she replied and wrapped his thick warm cloak tighter around her.

For some reason she had no doubts about not being safe with him. He helped her on his horse and then jumped behind her.


End file.
